


No Place Like Home For the Holidays (But Sometimes Home Isn't a Place)

by WildWolf25



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Sweaters, Cuddling, Fluff, Gen, Holidays, I wrote it with polydins incl. Allura and Coran in mind..., Multi, Snow, Snowball Fight, Stargazing, Voltron Secret Santa 2017, Winter Wonderland, but it ended up being G and not very shippy, everybody loves Shiro, implied polydins, this is warm and happy and cheesy like fondue, well most of it... the last scene could be, well not Christmas because they're Altean... in the spirit of it tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 11:37:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13076064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildWolf25/pseuds/WildWolf25
Summary: After a rough battle, Team Voltron decides to set down on a safe, deserted planet to rest and let the castle's defenses recover.  And if that planet happens to be covered in snow, well, there's no harm in having a little winter fun while they're at it.(Written for Lórien for the Voltron Secret Santa event on tumblr.  Happy holidays!)





	No Place Like Home For the Holidays (But Sometimes Home Isn't a Place)

**Author's Note:**

> (Cross-posting to AO3 in case they would rather read it here) I was your secret Santa, [Lórien](lunarymagic.tumblr.com)! This was really fun to write, but it got very long because I couldn't stop giving the paladins fun winter activities.
> 
> Merry Christmas, Happy holidays, and have a wonderful winter season!

They had just liberated another Balmera planet and destroyed the Galra mining equipment, but it had been a hard battle and they were all exhausted as they made their way back to the ship.  Shiro was in a weird state of post-battle adrenaline drop, and he somehow zoned out a bit while they got the castle-ship in flight.  One minute they were forcing tired smiles as they waved to the Balmerans seeing them off, and it seemed like Shiro had only blinked before they were back in outer space, galaxies swirling in the distance in a hypnotizing way.  He was so tired; his head felt foggy and slow, and his eyelids were so heavy… Every time he blinked, it grew harder and harder to open his eyes again.  Maybe he could just close them for a little bit.  He could keep an ‘eye’ on things with just his ears for a while.  Just a couple of minutes…

“...iro?  Shiro?”

Shiro jolted, instantly awake, only to find himself off-balance and a split second away from falling out of his chair.  His hand snapped out to catch himself against the armrest at the same moment Keith caught his shoulder, both of them stopping the movement.  “I’m awake.”  Shiro said, voice sounding rusty from disuse.  

Keith regarded him with a bland look, clearly not believing him.  “You’ve been asleep for two hours.  I only woke you up because you started to fall over.”  

“Two…?”  Shiro looked around, blinking the dregs of sleep away.  He was in his pilot chair on the castle’s flight deck, where he had last remembered being while he looked at some maps of a galaxy quadrant where the Galra were beginning to encroach.  The screen was now blank, a small cyan-colored V slowly bouncing around the darkened screen attesting to how long he had been out.  Someone had draped a fluffy blanket over his lap.  “Why didn’t you wake me when I fell asleep?”  Shiro asked, pushing himself up into a straighter position.  

“Because you were tired.”  Keith said simply.  

Shiro sighed, pushing a hand through his hair.  He did feel marginally more refreshed, now, but falling asleep on the job was still unprofessional.  “I have things to do…”

“No you don’t.”  Coran called from his place over by a set of controls.  “This old castle’s been through the wringer in that last battle, and so have all of you.  I’ve found a nice, quiet, deserted planet nearby, and we’re going to set the castle down there for at least a quintant so the particle barrier ionizers can recharge.”  

“What planet is it?”  Allura’s voice asked from somewhere behind him.  Shiro looked over the back of his seat and blinked, taken aback by the sight.  Allura was lying flat on her back on the floor, head pillowed by Hunk’s thigh.  Pidge was stretched out over the princess’s stomach like a lazy ferret, tapping away at her laptop.  

“Uh… Princess, why…?”  Shiro trailed off, still trying to process the sight.

Allura threw her hands up, glaring at the ceiling in frustration.  “Ask  _ them _ .”

“Well, you didn’t want to go take a nap in your room.”  Hunk said, reading something on a data-pad.  

“I don’t need to take a nap.”  Allura crossed her arms.  “I am not a child.”  

“You just restored energy to  _ another  _ Balmera in critical condition.”  Lance pointed out from his position lounging sideways on his own pilot chair, hands laced together behind the back of his head as he laid back with his eyes closed.  “You need to rest somehow.  If you can’t do it by yourself then you’ll have to do it with us.”

Pidge paused in her typing to point threateningly in Shiro’s direction, giving him a stern look over the top of her glasses.  “You’re next, if you try to pull any of that ‘I-don’t-need-to-rest’ BS.”

“Everyone is going to rest in about half a varga.”  Coran said.  “Just as soon as we land on planet Atikomihs.”  

Allura pushed herself up as much as she could, leaning back on her elbows.  “Coran.  I know exactly what you’re up to.”

“I’m not up to anything.”  Coran said, calmly steering the ship down while clouds rushed outside the windows around them.  “This really is the closest planet that isn’t potentially hostile, and we have just enough energy left in the system to limp to it.  It’s merely a coincidence.”

“A coincidence that we’re going there less than a fortnight away from the  _ ijuot’ikust _ festival?”  Allura arched an eyebrow at him.  

“Quite fortunate, isn’t it?”  Coran beamed.  

“The what festival?”  Lance asked, finally opening his eyes.

“I like festivals.”  Hunk sat up a little straighter.  “Is it like a carnival?  Or a parade?  Is there cool alien food to try?”

“Hang on,” Shiro tapped his fingertips to his palm in a ‘time-out’ sign.  “Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.  Coran, what’s this planet, and what’s this festival?”

“Planet Atikomihs is a lovely ice-covered planet in solar system X5J7N1, situated just far enough away from its sun that living there can be a bit chillier than most people like.”  Coran explained.  “As such, no one lives there full-time anymore, but it remains a popular vacation destination, if you like complete isolation and being one with frozen nature.”  

“Sounds lovely.”  Pidge said flatly.  

“And the  _ ijuot’ikust _ festival is Altea’s winter solstice celebration, held during the coldest part of the decaphoebe when planet Altea is tilted the furthest on its axis.”  Allura went on.  “Meaning that Coran is taking us to a snowy planet around the same time that Alteans would traditionally celebrate a snow festival.”  

“The very definition of serendipity.”  Coran said as the clouds outside began to clear.  “We can rest up and enjoy ourselves while we’re at it.  It’ll be like a much-needed vacation.”  They broke through the clouds, and everyone had to shield their eyes against the blinding sunlight.  It was so bright that all they could see out the window was brilliant blue and white.

Lance got up and went over to the window.  “Holy crow!  You guys, it’s Hoth!  From  _ Star Wars _ !”

Coran gave him a weird look.  “No, it’s Atikomihs.  Weren’t you listening?”

“Wait, there’s snow?”  Hunk sat up, a grin spreading across his lips.  “Woah!”  

Shiro squinted past the bright sunlight and saw a brilliantly blue sky, and an endless expanse of white underneath them.  Mountains stretched across the land as far as they could see.  As Coran landed the ship, the view disappeared for a few minutes, lost in the flurry of snow kicked up by the thrusters.  Snowflakes glittered in the sunlight as they settled once more.  It looked like they were inside a snow globe.  

“Question!  What’s the atmosphere like on this planet?”  Hunk asked, raising his hand excitedly.

“About the same as it is on the ship, just a fair amount colder.”  Coran said, flicking at least a dozen switches to shut everything down while the low hum faded into silence around them.

“So we can go outside?”  Hunk and Lance shared a look.

“I see no reason why you can’t.”  Coran said.

“Then, can we play in the snow?”  Lance asked, bouncing in place.  

“What else are we going to do while we wait for the castle to recover?”  Coran held his hands up in a shrug while the other two cheered behind him.  

“Snow day!”  Lance headed for the door.  

“Hang on,” Shiro caught the back of his jacket.  “If you play in the snow, you’re going to get all wet and cold.  No one is dying of hypothermia on my watch.”  

“We’ve got some coats and the like lying around somewhere.”  Coran said, opening a closet.  “Ah, here they are!  The finest winter gear Altea has to offer.  Take your pick!” 

While Hunk, Lance, and Shiro all crowded around the closet to dig through the plethora of brightly-colored, puffy winter coats, Allura looked down at Pidge, still sprawled perpendicularly across her stomach.  “May I get up, now?”

“I dunno, I’m pretty comfortable where I am.”  Pidge said, not looking up from her screen.  

“It seems we are going on an excursion, though.”  Allura pointed out.  “We need to get dressed appropriately.”  

Pidge cast a dark look at toward the window.  “I don’t like snow.”  

“ _ I don’t like sand _ , Anakin says,” Lance mimicked.  “Come on, Pidgeon, up and at ‘em!”  He grabbed under her arms and hauled her up to her feet, pushing the back of her shoulders to steer her over to the closet.  “Come on, it’ll be fun!”  

“I’m all for playing in the snow, but can we maybe not have a snowball fight?”  Hunk said, digging through the coats.  “I love winter aesthetics, but I hate getting all cold and wet… Snow dripping down the back of your coat?  Ugh...”  He shuddered.

“Perhaps you might be interested in this, then?”  Coran asked, pulling out a bright yellow, full-body snow-suit with a furry hood.  

“Perfect!”  Hunk grinned, taking it. 

Pidge gasped and reached for a lime-colored knit hat with two triangular ears on top of it, square yellow eyes and a white nose stitched to the front.  “A hat with  _ cat ears _ on it!  This is so cute!  It looks like my lion!”  She jammed it on her head and reached up to flick the ears, mood having done a one-eighty following this discovery.

About thirty minutes later, all five humans and the two Alteans were bundled up like marshmallows in their downy coats, brightly-colored snow pants, sturdy boots, and an armada of hats, scarves, and mittens.  Altean winter fashion, apparently, was somewhat in line with Earth 80s fashion, all bright colors and vivid patterns.  At least they wouldn’t lose anyone in the snow this way.  

Lance led the group, running outside with a loud whoop.  He picked up handfuls of the white powder and threw it above into the air above his head, cheering “Snow!”    

Shiro chuckled, amused by his enthusiasm.  He looked to his right and noticed that Keith was quiet next to him, looking around with a wonderstruck expression.  “Have you never seen snow before?”  He asked, curious.

“No,” Keith bent down and scooped up a handful of pristine white powder.  “I lived my whole life in that desert near the Garrison.  I’ve only seen snow in books and movies.”  

“You should try tasting it.”  Coran suggested, leaning forward.  

“Taste it?”  Keith looked at him.  

“It’s quite an experience, if you haven’t.”  Coran nodded.  Shiro gave him a confused look over Keith’s shoulder.  Keith blinked at the pile of snow in his hand, then shrugged and brought his hand closer to his face, poking his tongue out to lick at the frozen substance.  Shiro caught the twinkle in Coran’s eye, but the Altean man moved quicker than Shiro could say something, one hand darting up to lightly bop the back of Keith’s hand and send the entire pile of snow flying right into his face. 

“Wha… Coran!”  Keith sputtered, brushing snow off of his face.  “I thought I could trust you!  You’re… you’re  _ Coran _ !”

“Coran, Coran, the trickster man!”  Said man sang, dancing away.  

Shiro scooped up a handful of snow and quickly packed it into a ball.  “Keith,” he said, raising an eyebrow and giving a tiny jerk of his head in Coran’s direction. Keith leaned away from him, wary at first, then grinned and took the proffered snowball, drawing back his arm.  

“Oh quiznak!”  Coran yelped, ducking behind Lance.  The snowball landed right in the middle of Lance’s chest, exploding on impact and leaving him sputtering and fuming.

“I’ll get you, Keith!”  Lance yelled, scooping up a handful of snow.  Keith turned on his heel and ran towards a stretch of untouched snow, only to sink straight into the deep powder and fall on his face, disappearing into a Keith-shaped hole.  Lance stopped in his tracks, bending over as he laughed.  “Oh my god, you just  _ ate it _ , dude!”  He pointed, cackling as Keith popped up again.

Keith glared at him as he waded through the waist-deep snow, clumps of white clinging to his hair.  “It looked solid!  How was I supposed to know it wasn’t solid?!”

“Don’t worry, man, I did the same thing the first time I went snowboarding.”  Hunk said, offering a hand to pull him out of the snow.  “Thought I was going through a nice patch of pristine snow, next thing I knew, I was hip-deep in powder and my board was stuck.”

Shiro felt his arm being lifted and looked down to find that Pidge had ducked under his arm and was hugging him around the waist, lips turned down in a pout.  He chuckled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, rubbing her arm.  “Cold?”

“I am going to launch myself into the sun.”  Pidge said darkly.  

“But you hate being too hot either.”  Hunk pointed out.  “You just need to move around a bit to warm up!”

“We could try going for a hike.”  Shiro offered.  “This place is beautiful, and it would be good exercise.”

“Or we could just go inside and play video games instead…” Pidge muttered under her breath.

“A hike…” Allura looked around thoughtfully, peering up the sloped side of the mountain they were on.  “Coran, do you think we could find any snow monsters?”  

“Most likely, the weather is perfect for viewing them.”  Coran nodded.  “Shall we go look?”

“Wait, hang on, did I hear that correctly?”  Hunk held up his hands.  “There are monsters on this planet?”

“Snow monsters.”  Allura said, taking his arm and setting off away from the castle.  “They’re harmless.”

“Anything with the word ‘monster’ in the name can’t possibly be harmless!”  Hunk protested.  

“Should we bring our bayards?”  Keith asked, looking back at the castle.  

“Heavens no, you won’t need them.”  Coran said, sound very sure of himself.

“...to deal with snow  _ monsters _ ?”  Shiro asked skeptically.  

“It would really just be easier to show you rather than explain.”  Coran said.  

“I like explanations.”  Hunk piped up, looking around nervously.  “Preferably  _ before  _ we encounter the monsters…”

Just as they came around the bend of a huge, iced-over slab of granite protruding from the mountainside, Allura gasped and ran ahead, her boots crunching over the snow.  “I see them!”

“Wha-- Allura!  Don’t run  _ towards  _ the monsters!”  Lance called out.  

“Oh sweet quiznak…”  Pidge ran after her, hissing “Allura!  You don’t have your bayard!”  

“No, really, the snow monsters are _completely_ _harmless_!”  Coran repeated, strong-arming Hunk forward as the yellow paladin tried to run back to the ship.

Allura beckoned them around the bend, grinning.  “Paladins, come see!”  When they reached the bend, the humans poked their heads around the rock and found the vast, snowy mountainside stretching before them, with strange, jagged lumps spaced every few yards covering the mountainside like an army of frozen, upright hedgehogs.  The sight was spectacular, especially bathed in the golden-pink light of the sun as it began to set behind the mountains, long purplish shadows stretching from each mound.    

“ _ Woah _ …”

Allura beamed, gesturing at them.  “The famous snow monsters of the Adokkah mountains.  See?  The only danger with these is a clump of snow falling on your head.”

“It’s… beautiful…” Shiro looked around, eyes wide.  

“We know  _ you  _ are, but we’re talking about the snow things now.”  Lance leaned on his shoulder and gave him a sly look.  Shiro blinked, then blushed and covered his face, letting out a sound that was definitely  _ not _ a giggle.  A very deep, manly giggle, thank you very much.

“You want some wine with that cheese?”  Keith asked, scooping up a handful of snow and dumping it on Lance’s head.  

Lance sputtered indignantly and swiped the snow off his hat.  “ _ Hey! _ ”  

“There’s the whine.”  Pidge quipped, patting his back with a snow-covered mitten.  “Don’t get snow on Shiro, Lance.”  

“Keith got snow on  _ me _ !”  Lance swiped at his shoulder.  “And so did  _ you _ !”  

“Guys, just be nice and enjoy the view.”  Shiro said, looping his left arm around Keith and his right around both Pidge and Lance.  The three of them exchanged knowing looks before staring at him pointedly.  He laughed, charmed by their attention.  “I meant the view of the  _ trees _ …” 

“How… What is this?”  Hunk, for all his earlier trepidation, had walked right up to one of the trees and reached out to lightly touch one of the frozen branches with just the tip of his gloved finger.

“The weather is clear enough, today, but usually this area is covered in a thick fog.”  Coran explained.  “The moisture freezes instantly on the needles of the trees, creating a soft rime that builds up over time, jagged on the windward side and rounded on the leeward side.  Eventually, they look almost like hunched-over, monstrous figures, especially when they’re half-hidden in fog, hence the name.  These trees are actually nearly as tall as the castle-ship is wide, but we can only see the very tops of them poking out of the snow.”

“This is amazing…”  Keith said softly.  Shiro hummed in agreement.  

“I had forgotten how beautiful they are.”  Allura said, looking around.  “Coran, do you remember one year we came here on holiday, and Father wanted to see the sun rise from the mountain top so he made us hike up here in the dark?”

“How could I forget?”  Coran chuckled.  “The snow monsters looked so eerie in the dark.  And then you threw that snowball at the back of my head--”

“And you got so startled you karate-chopped a tree, mistaking it for an assassin!”  Allura laughed.  

“Your father nearly laughed himself into stitches at my expense.”  Coran shook his head fondly. 

Allura giggled at the memory.  She looked out over the mountainside wistfully.  “The sunset truly is beautiful.  I am glad we stopped here.”  

“Princess, if the sun is setting now, shouldn’t we head back to the castle?  Shiro asked, growing worried.  “Being out on a mountain at night in these temperatures would be dangerous.”  

“Oh, we have a while until it gets dark.”  Allura said.  “Atikomihs spins quite slowly on its axis, so the day lengths are very long.  We have, perhaps, another two vargas before it gets completely da--”  Her words got cut off as a snowball made contact with the back of her head, splattering in a poof of cold powder.  It hadn’t been forceful so much as it was simply a surprise.  

The princess slowly turned around, clumps of white clinging to her silver hair.  Hunk and Coran were the only two behind her.  The yellow paladin jumped a little and pointed accusingly at Coran.  “That was not me, I  _ swear _ , Allura, really!”

“Coran.”  The already-cold temperature seemed to drop a couple of degrees as she cut Hunk off. 

Coran grinned broadly and held up his snow-covered mittens.  “You know what they say, Princess: revenge is a dish best served cold.”

“Oh, it is  _ on _ !”  Allura smirked, scooping up some snow.

Coran yelped and dove behind Hunk.  “Human shield!  I invoke the protection of Voltron!”

“Voltron says you’re on your own!  Or at least, its leg does!”  Hunk told him, running behind a tree just as a volley of snowballs came their way.  It turned out that Allura was quite the speedy snowball-maker.  

“Well  _ this  _ Voltron leg will always stand with his princess!”  Lance shouted, scooping up an armload of snow and tossing the powder in Coran’s direction.  It wasn’t very aerodynamic, though, and only made it about halfway across the field.  

“You’d best watch out!”  Coran seized Keith and Shiro around their upper arms.  “I’m  _ armed _ and about to get a _ head _ of myself!”  

Shiro buried his face in his mittens while Keith let out a loud, surprised laugh.  The bad puns convinced them to stay and help, and pretty soon there was an all-out snow war going on.  Meanwhile, Hunk had edged behind some of the trees to stay on the outside of the battle, and he slipped over to where Pidge was watching the group in amusement, blowing on her fingers to keep them warm.  

“Hey,” Pidge nudged him with an elbow.  “Speaking of Voltron, do you wanna build a--”

“Snowman?”  Hunk grinned.  

“...I was going to say snow lion.”  Pidge chuckled.  “You know, just to be creative.”

“Ooh, neat idea.”  Hunk broke off to duck as an errant snowball came flying at them.  “How about over there, out of the way?  Next to that big tree that looks kinda like a Taujeerian.”  

The two of them started rolling up large balls of snow and arranging them into what looked a bit like a miniature version of the Great Sphinx of Giza, until they squared out the head and sculpted some ears out of snow.  They weren’t short on building materials with all the snow covering everything, so they kept going and made it nearly the length of a car; much bigger than a regular snowman, but not nearly as big as the real mechanical lions.  

By the time they got the base of it made, the snowball battle had wound down, leaving the five participants covered in white and panting from exertion.  Once they saw what Pidge and Hunk were doing, they joined in.  Between the seven of them, they even managed to add small details that made up the lions’ exterior and machinery.  By the end, it looked like the Voltron lions had a little, completely white snow lion-cub sitting between two snow-covered trees.  They stood back to look at it proudly, admiring the rosy light and dusky shadows cast over their creation as the sun set behind them.  Pidge slipped her hat off and perched it on top of the snow lion’s head, adjusting the ears so that they stood straight up.  “There.  Perfect.”

“It looks great.”  Shiro agreed.  

Lance slipped back from the group and scooped up another handful of snow, packing it into a ball quickly.  He aimed at the back of Keith’s head, but as soon as he threw the ball, Keith ducked and it went flying over him, only to collide into the tree next to their snow lion.  Lance’s indignant protest that Keith had to have eyes on the back of his head was interrupted as the tree shivered violently.  A huge clump of snow fell off the arched tip and landed right on top of the snow lion’s head.  The frozen tip of the tree sprang up, no longer weighed down by snow, and the movement prompted another few clumps of snow to drop onto the lion as well.

“Whoops.”  Lance, to his credit, did look a bit apologetic.  

“I think that’s our cue to go inside, before we cause a real avalanche.”  Shiro said, while Pidge dug her poor hat out of the snow and brushed it off.  “Besides, it’s starting to actually get dark.”

Hunk sneezed.  “And I’m cold.”  He added, rubbing his nose. 

“Perhaps we ought to go in.”  Coran nodded.  “This planet is famous for its wonderful view of the night sky, but soon it might be a bit too cold to stay out here and properly look at the stars.”

“We could always go up to the castle’s observation deck.”  Allura suggested.  “Then we could see the night sky from the comfort and warmth of being inside.”

“That sounds like a great plan.”  Shiro said, and the rest nodded eagerly.  

They followed their own earlier footsteps through the deep snow, dredging a narrow path back along the mountainside.  By the time they made it back to the area where the castle-ship was, the sky had turned a dark, purplish-red, the sun having long set.  Snow had built up along the door while they were away, and they had to brush it off just to open the door and get inside the entryway. 

“That was fun.”  Keith said, dusting snow off his shoulders and unzipping his coat.  “And now I can say I’ve played in snow.  Not many people who live in the desert can say that.”  

“I’d be curious to see what your Earth ‘desert’ is like.”  Coran said.  

Keith chuckled.  “The complete opposite of what we just saw.  Hot, dry air, no snow, just a bunch of reddish-orange rocks and mirages shimmering in the distance.”

“Still, that sounds quite interesting.”  Allura said.

At the back of the group, Lance eased a snowball out from behind his back and slowly drew his arm back, aiming right at Shiro who was taking his coat off.  

Shiro didn’t even look up.  “If you throw that, you’re sleeping outside for a week.”  He told him.

Lance paused.  “We live in  _ space _ .”

“And?”  Shiro turned around, giving him a flat look.  “I meant what I said.”

Coran suddenly jumped in front of Shiro, arms spread.  “I nobly accept this sacrifice!  Lance, you may ball me!”

“B--?!”  

Pidge burst out laughing, doubling over and clutching her stomach.  Allura shook her head, rubbing her temple.  “Coran, I don’t think that’s the correct phrase…”

“If anyone must be balled, let it be me!”  Coran went on, ignoring her.  

“Only if you promise to never say the phrase ‘ball me’ again.”  Lance said.  Keith sighed and snatched the snowball out of Lance’s hand, swiftly tossing it out the castle-ship’s front door.  

“There,” he said, dusting snow off his hands.  “Now no one gets balled.”

“Can we shut the door now?”  Hunk asked, rubbing his arms.  “I’m not taking any clothes off until the door is shut.  It’s too cold.”

“ _ My _ clothes don’t usually come off ‘til I have some eggnog, if ya get my drift,” Lance elbowed him, smirking.  

“You can’t even  _ have _ eggnog.”  Shiro reminded him.  

“Coran let us have nunvil!”  Lance protested.  “Why can’t we have eggnog?”  

“One, the castle-ship is temporarily out of commission, so we can’t run to the grocery store,” Coran said, holding up a finger.  “Two, I haven’t the faintest idea what this ‘eggnog’ is.  And three, there is no age restriction on nunvil.  The only rule for nunvil is: if you can stomach the stuff, you can drink it.”  

“So it’s space-moonshine.”  Keith snorted quietly, pulling his mittens off and replacing them with his usual fingerless gloves.  

“Question,” Pidge piped up, pulling at the collar of her sweater and making a face.  “What should we do about wet clothes?  Because Lance dumped snow down my coat and now my whole back is soaked.”  

“You deserved that for pushing me into a snowbank on the walk back.”  Lance ruffled her hair.  She swatted at his hand half-heartedly.  

“It certainly wouldn’t do for you to become hypothermic from the cold.  And if those are your only clothes…” Allura trailed off for a moment, then snapped her fingers.  “Coran!  Do we still have that box of festive sweaters?”  

“I’m sure we do, somewhere.  An excellent idea, Princess!”  Coran hopped on one foot as he pulled off his other boot.  Leaving them by the door, he ran off in his socks and slid around the corner.  “I’ll get them!”

“Festive sweaters?”  Shiro asked Allura.  

“Winters on Altea were always so cold, and quite dark and dreary.”  Allura explained.  “Because of that, Alteans long ago started the tradition of knitting very warm, colorful sweaters, to make the winter season a bit more cheerful.”  

“Some places on Earth do the same thing.”  Pidge smiled.  “That’s funny, how even on different planets, people can have similar experiences.”  

“I would think anywhere that experiences a cold season would come up with similar ways to cope.”  Shiro mused.  “That’s nice.”  

“Coming throuuuugh!”  Coran called out as he slid around the corner on his socks, narrowly avoiding crashing into Keith with the large box he was carrying.  

“Coran, really, what would my father say if he saw you sliding around the castle like you’re skating on Lake Naw’ustum?”  Allura shook her head fondly.  

“He’d give me a pair of those socks with the rubber grips on the bottom again, just like he did every year.”  Coran said easily, setting the box down.  “Now everyone come over and pick out a sweater before you freeze!”  

“Hey, these are awesome!”  Lance said, holding up a blue sweater covered in snowflakes.  “They’re just like ugly Christmas sweaters!”

“ _ Ugly _ ?”  Allura frowned, looking offended by the notion.  

“When it comes to Christmas sweaters, ‘ugly’ is a term of affection.”  Pidge said, picking up a black sweater featuring what looked like a purple, four-flippered penguin.  “We have whole parties centered around the notion.”

“These are cute.”  Keith smiled, picking through the box.  

Hunk, meanwhile, sidled over to Coran, pushing his fingers together nervously.  “Hey, Coran, do you guys have any of these in bigger sizes?”  He asked quietly.

“Bigger sizes?”  Coran looked at him.  “Altean clothes don’t have sizes.”  

“Oh, okay.”  Hunk deflated, sounding disappointed.  “Or I can just go without, that’s fine, I guess…”

“Why would you do that?”  Coran asked, puzzled.  Shiro glanced up from the sweater he was holding.

“Well, these aren’t going to fit me…” Hunk said.

“Me either, I think.”  Shiro added quietly, eyeing the sweater critically.  It might have fit him – just barely – before the Kerberos mission, but not with all the muscle mass he had gained during his time as a gladiator.  

“Nonsense!  Altean clothes can fit any shape and size.”  Coran waved a hand.  “Just like that paladin armor!  Remember, they all  _ looked _ the same, but they fit you all perfectly, even Number Five!”  

“Hey,” Pidge pointed at him sternly around the large sweater she was holding.  “I am five-feet-two-and-a-quarter-inches of space-coffee and pure rage.  I’ll kick your kneecaps in.”  

“Altean clothes, like Alteans themselves, have the ability to take on any shape and form the wearer desires.”  Allura explained.  “How else would our clothes fit us when we shapeshift?”  

As the princess spoke, Pidge pulled the sweater on over her head.  Holding it up, it had looked like it would fit her like a short dress with the sleeves hanging past her hands, but by the time she pushed her arms through the sleeves, the garment had shrunk to fit her perfectly, sleeves shortening and hem falling to just her hips.  “Huh, it worked.  Neat.”  She said, looking down at the knit image of a klanmüirl wearing a winter cap.

“Really?”  Hunk brightened at the idea.  

“Try this one, buddy.”  Lance balled up a green sweater and tossed it at him from across the room.  

Hunk caught it and unfolded it to look at the front, chuckling.  “Cookies?”  He asked, turning the sweater around to show off the knit star-shaped cookies decorated with glittery yarn-icing and bead-sprinkles.

“’Cuz you’re so  _ sweet _ .”  Lance winked and shot finger-guns at him.

Keith, meanwhile, had shuffled closer to Shiro, who was still examining the sweater in his hands.  “Are you picking that one?”  He asked.

Shiro smiled, able to read him easily.  “I’m not particularly attached to it.  Did you want this one?”  

“I like the trees.”  Keith smiled softly.  “It looks like the mountains north of the desert back home.”  

“It does.”  Shiro held it out to him.  Keith took it and pulled it on, looking down at the snow-covered trees knit across the red sweater.  The white stitches of snow falling to rest on the branches of the evergreen trees was something he hadn’t seen, but the trees themselves did look a bit like the ones that covered the mountains north of the Garrison, especially with the warm red background.  

Shiro crouched down and joined Allura in shifting through the box.  She looked like she was on a mission, eyes bright and her tongue between her teeth.  A few moments later, she pulled out a powder-blue sweater with a triumphant “Ah-ha!”

“Again, Princess?”  Coran chuckled.  “You wore that one last year!”

“Coran, I have not worn this in ten-thousand years.”  Allura pointed out with mock seriousness, pulling the sweater on.  The front was decorated with silver-lined, fuchsia-colored flowers with green leaves, a real ribbon sewn to the front to look like it was tied around the bouquet.  

“Is that the juniberry flower?”  Pidge asked, recognizing it from the AI holo-memories.  

“Yes.”  Allura said, looking down at it.  “Unfortunately, juniberry flowers cannot survive in the snow, so Alteans have a tradition of bringing a small amount of them inside for the winter, to ensure that a particularly cold season doesn’t kill off all of them.  We keep them warm inside all winter, and in the spring, we plant them outside once again.”  

“Kinda like a yule log.”  Hunk said, now wearing his cookie sweater.  “Except you don’t burn the flowers.”

“Good heavens, no.”  Coran pushed his head through the neck-hole of a dark blue sweater, the Altean man looking aghast at the idea.  “The flowers are well-loved by our people.”  He worked his arms through and smoothed out the front, the pattern featuring golden lanterns that seemed to glow with lighter yarn knit into the dark blue of the backdrop.       

Shiro held up a purple sweater, eyeing it with a puzzled expression.  “What… is this?”

“A snowlien, of course!”  Coran said, looking at the front.  “Or a snow-alien, as you might know it.”

“…Is that why it looks like a snowman with two heads and seven arms?”  Shiro asked.  

“Yes.”  Allura nodded.  “Snowliens can be made in any form, but that is sort of the quintessential look.  Many children make them like that.”

“Hm,” Shiro hummed thoughtfully and set it aside.  He picked up the black sweater Pidge had tossed next to the box when she had found the klanmüirl one she ended up picking.  He unfolded it and looked at the four-flippered purple penguin wearing a pompom-topped hat.  “I’ll wear this one.”  He decided, setting it down to unzip his snow-soaked vest.  

“Last one to the observation deck is a rotten space-apple!”  Lance called, running off down the hall.  

“Hey!”  Keith tore after him.  “It’s not fair if you start before you say that!”  

“There will be no beating me, young paladin!  Get back here!”  Coran darted after them.  

“I’m going to walk like a normal person.”  Pidge snorted, lacing her fingers together behind her head.  Allura grinned slyly and ruffled her hair as she ran by.  “Hey!”  Pidge chased after her, following the sound of Allura laughing down the hall.  

Hunk looked back at Shiro, the two of them the last in the room.

“You can go on ahead.”  Shiro said.  “I’m fine being the rotten space-apple.  My shirt got wet from the snow, too, so I’m going to hang it up to dry and just wear this sweater.”

“Okay,” Hunk said, then took off at a jog down the hall in search of the others.  When he made it to the observation deck, though, it was nearly empty aside from Lance who was… stacking chairs in the corner?  He had four of them in a little circle with the chair-backs touching in the middle, and had balanced three more chairs on top of them in the same fashion.   “Uh… what are you doing?  And where is everyone?”  Hunk asked.

Lance grunted as he hefted another dining chair on top of the stack of three.  “Building a tree.  The others are raiding the castle.”  

That… did not clear it up, Hunk thought.  “Buddy, I hate to break it to you, but trees are made of organic matter and are grown, not built.”  

“No, it’s a… Oh come on, just look at it!  Don’t you see it?”  Lance gestured at his creation empathically.  

Hunk considered it.  “I see a pile of chairs that are going to be very hard to sit on.”  

“I got it!”  Pidge yelled, running onto the observation deck with her green bedspread trailing behind her, two pillows tucked under her arm.  

Lance brightened.  “Excellent!”  

Pidge dropped the pillows on the floor and threw one end of the blanket to Lance.  The two of them together tossed the green blanket over the pile of chairs, and as it settled, Hunk realized what it was.  “Ohhhh it’s a Christmas tree…” He said slowly, looking at the vaguely-triangular green shape.

“Now he gets it.”  Lance sighed dramatically, leaning his elbow on Pidge’s shoulder.  

“To be fair, Christmas trees built out of chairs are not exactly common.”  Pidge offered.  

The doors opened again and Allura came in, dragging a king-sized quilt piled up with at least half a dozen large, fluffy pillows, upon which were perched her mice.  “I brought everything I could from my room.”  She paused, seeing them all staring at her.  “...What?”

“ _ Where  _ did you get so many pillows?!”  Lance asked.  

“I grew up in this castle.  You don’t think I know where all the spare bedding is stored and how to take advantage of it?”  Allura asked, tossing the pillows onto the floor in the center of the room, directly underneath the huge, curved window on the ceiling.  Her mice hopped off to investigate the chair ‘tree’ in the corner, sniffing the blanket and squeaking curiously as they climbed it.  They looked like little mouse-shaped ornaments.  

“What are the pillows for?”  Hunk asked.  “Are we having a sleepover?”  

“Sort of.”  Pidge said, helping Allura arrange some of the pillows and blankets.  

“We were talking about Altean winter traditions, and Earth winter traditions, and we decided we’re going to combine some and have a Christmas-slash-moon-gazing-slash-cuddle-pile!”  Lance declared, as the doors opened again and Keith and Coran entered with blankets and pillows of their own.  They were just adding them to the cozy nest being constructed in the middle of the floor when Shiro walked in.  

“What on Earth are you guys doing?”  Shiro asked, looking bemused at the scene.  

“For the last time, we are on Atikomihs, not Earth!”  Coran threw his hands up.  Shiro laughed.  

“To answer your question, it’s a moon-gazing sleepover cuddle party.”  Pidge explained.  

“Sounds fun.”  Shiro smiled.  

Hunk sat up, tilting his head.  “Hey, Shiro, is your sweater, uh… broken?”  

Shiro looked down at the Altean sweater he was wearing.  It was loose on him, the wide collar showing part of his bare shoulder and the sleeves falling over his hands.  “No, I was actually thinking as I put it on how much I missed wearing oversized sweaters, since I haven’t been able to for years now, and I guess the sweater… knew?  Heard my thoughts?  I don’t know.  It’s cozy, though.”  He smiled, looking uncharacteristically shy.  

“You look cute.”  Lance shot him a thumbs up.  “10/10 would give my hot cocoa to in a cafe.”

“What does that even mean?”  Keith gave him a mollified look.  

“Cute and warm winter aesthetic.”  Lance said, holding his thumbs and index fingers up in a rectangle and squinting through it.  “You know, tumblr moodboards and stuff.  Take an artsy, face-obscured, sepia-toned shot of him, maybe with his head turned to the side to showcase that jawline and the shoulder of his sweater tugged down a little, and bam!  He’d be instagram-famous in ten ticks.”  

Keith stared at him a moment, then turned to Allura.  “Did you understand any of that?”  He whispered.  

“Not at all.”  Allura picked up a pillow and brought it close to her chest, then pushed it away like a basketball and sent it flying straight at Lance’s face.  He let out an indignant squawk and reached for another pillow, raising it over his head.

“Hold it!”  Coran snatched the pillow away.  “This is supposed to be a fun and  _ relaxing  _ gathering.  No pillow fights.  We--” he looped an arm around the back of Lance’s neck.  “--are going--” another arm around Allura.  “--to  _ relax _ .”  He flopped backwards to lay on his back in the center of the pillows.  “Now, I haven’t got any more hands to grab you with, so the rest of you had better just pile on.”  

“Cuddle pile!”  Hunk cheered, laying down next to Lance, who snorted and rested his head on Coran’s chest.  Allura, on his other side, turned onto her back and laid perpendicular to him, her head on his chest like a pillow, as she reached up and beckoned to the others to join them.  Shiro sat down on the edge of the group, but was quickly pulled down into a hug by Allura.  Keith chuckled quietly in amusement and slid in behind Shiro, wrapping his arm around his waist and laying his head on Coran’s stomach.  The mice abandoned their attempts to slide down the blanket-covered chairs like a slide in favor of scampering over to the group and curling up in the space between Allura and Shiro, tucking their little mouse tails around themselves.  On the other side of the group, Hunk picked his head up and looked around for the green paladin, who was sitting hunched over her laptop beyond the blanket-nest.  “ _ Piiiiidge… _ ” 

“Hang on, I’m doing something.”  Pidge didn’t look up, her fingers flying over the keys.  

“You’re supposed to be doing something  _ else _ , Number Five.”  Coran said.  “Report to the cuddle pile immediately.”  

“You know what cozy thing we’re missing?”  Pidge said, tapping away at her keyboard.  “A crackling fire.”

“We can’t have a fire in this contained, high-oxygen environment.”  Hunk pointed out.  “That’s a dangerous disaster waiting to happen.”

“No, but we can have…” Pidge spun her laptop around to show them the screen.  “A five hour long video loop of a crackling fire.”  

“Genius.”  Lance grinned.  

“I know.”  Pidge said easily, smiling as she stretched her arms above her head to pop her back.  “And  _ now _ I’ll join the cuddle pile.”  Walking over to the group, she considered them briefly before carefully stretching out on top of the line of Keith, Shiro, and Allura, hugging the princess around the waist while her body lay over the other two boys.  

“You know, I’m starting to think you’re actually part cat.”  Shiro chuckled, shifting his arm out from under her to drape it over her shoulders.  

“You’ve discovered my secret identity.”  Pidge deadpanned, yawning.

“Paladins, have you even looked up at the sky?”  Allura chided gently.  “That is the whole point of this festival, you know.”

The five humans looked up at the window covering nearly the whole ceiling, letting out collective gasps and quiet “oooh”s at the sight.  Beyond the curved, crystalline glass was an endless array of stars and the bright, pale slice of a moon shining above them.  Since the planet they were on was uninhabited, there was no other light pollution anywhere; just the low blue glow of the emergency light strips around walls of the observation deck, and the quiet crackle of the fake fire on Pidge’s laptop to light their faces as they looked up at the expanse of space above them.  It was funny, Shiro thought, because they spent so much time actually  _ in _ outer space.  They were galaxies away from home on a distant, unheard-of planet, and yet, it was here, this moment that felt the most like home, like stargazing back on Earth.  Maybe it was the presence of the moon, a little larger and slightly more purple than the Earth’s but still a moon all the same.  Or maybe it had something to do with viewing the stars through an atmosphere or something… Shiro was too tired to think much of it…

“You know, the winter solstice festival on Altea isn’t just about the moon, although a lot of our traditions have formed around it.”  Coran spoke up.  Shiro was distantly aware of fingers stroking softly through his hair, but he wasn’t sure whose (not that he was complaining).  Coran went on.  “The real point of the festival is family, both blood and found.  Making the cold nights warm with laughter, and life, and sharing space like we are doing now.”  

Allura hummed quietly.  “Then it seems this is a perfect way to celebrate.”  

Shiro smiled.  That’s what it was, he decided.  That’s what made this feel like home: the warmth and closeness of their little found family, lightyears away from their home planets but still having found home in each other.     

**Author's Note:**

> *Whispers* [snow monsters](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=aomori+snow+monsters&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj587uRpZjYAhXFnZQKHduyDm8Q_AUICigB&biw=1280&bih=590) are real and you don't have to be a cryptid hunter to see them...
> 
> Bonus/deleted scene:  
>  _...Lance slipped back from the group and scooped up another handful of snow, packing it into a ball quickly. He aimed at the back of Keith’s head, but as soon as he threw the ball, Keith ducked and it went flying over him, only to collide into the tree next to their snow lion. Lance’s indignant protest that Keith had to have eyes on the back of his head was interrupted as the tree shivered violently. A huge clump of snow fell off the arched tip and landed right on top of the snow lion’s head. The frozen tip of the tree sprang up, no longer weighed down by snow, and the movement prompted another few clumps of snow to drop onto the lion as well._  
>  “Whoops.” Lance, to his credit, did look a bit apologetic. 
> 
> There was a brief moment of stunned silence, then Shiro let out a snort and clapped his mitten over his mouth to muffle what sounded suspiciously like giggles.
> 
> "What's so funny?" Hunk asked, curious.
> 
> Shiro grinned and pointed at the buried snow-lion. " _Nekkomaru neko maru._ " He then collapsed into a fit of laughter while the others watched him, amused. " _The round cat is stuck in the snow..._ okay, it's funnier in the dialect. It's a bad pun, sorry."
> 
> Keith reached up to tug the brim of Shiro's hat down over his eyes. "Nerd." He smiled fondly. Shiro just grinned and righted his hat.
> 
> (Deleted because it's rooted in a self-indulgent headcanon of mine about where Shiro's grandparents are from. But I just couldn't resist the pun. If you can place that dialect, you get a free apple, garlic, or tuna ;D )


End file.
